‘You’re not risk averse, you’re risk aware’ my mentor said with a smile. When you have worked in an Investment Bank, you tend to become more risk averse than you’d wish.
 
This is counter-intuitive because you would think that working on a trading floor or IPO deals would make you more likely to take risks.
 
Turns out: not really (for many reasons that I won’t get into here). Bankers have an ‘enhanced’ aversion to risk.
 
This means the odds of them leaving and trying to build a business are smaller. However, their odds of success are higher…precisely because of that approach to risk. Their due diligence is neat, their ‘What if’ analysis exhaustive, everything is reviewed, scrutinised, managed. 
 
Bankers are not risk averse; they’re risk aware. The best entrepreneurs understand risk intimately, and they try to minimise it.

What I have found is: when you build your business, you learn to work with your risk sensitivity instead of letting it get in the way…

So anyway, I googled it. There is an article on Inc. Magazine titled ‘Why Entrepreneurs Are the Most Risk-Averse People on the Planet’. Another on Forbes ‘Are You Risk Averse? You Could Be The Perfect Entrepreneur’..
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger used to say ‘No plan B […] operate without safety net’. And he’s not alone. So many other pseudo motivational quotes have the same jist. They make great posters. And they make even better toilet paper.
 
I know I can only do a 30 kg deadlift (at my best) and I’m no match for Schwarzy, but here is what I have to say about this:

LEAN into your risk awareness. Leverage it. Put it on steroids. Create options. De-risk. And then leap. It’s called calculated risk. Two Degrees at a time. 

What risks are you planning to take this year? How can you lean into your risk awareness with enthousiasm?

#risk #businesscoaching #banking #riskawareness #leap #entrepreneurship

Notes 
Article in Inc. Magazine https://lnkd.in/dr8F6BxH.
 
Forbes article https://lnkd.in/dDnDhBNa

A cool article on Risk awareness versus Risk Aversion on Medium: https://lnkd.in/d8-PbHxn